e live in an age in which
technological advancements take
place so often that their
occurrence is almost as common as blowing
one’s nose—sometimes resulting in a
product that’s more or less as useful.
Seriously though, blinded by our own
troubles, it seems that we hardly bat an eye
when a flu vaccine saves thousands of lives,
when an energy-efficiency practice
suggestion saves the average family
hundreds of dollars annually, or when the
ultra-tough servo gears hold strong so that
an RC model skillfully avoids a lone field
box placed not 3 feet from the pilot.
Albert Einstein gave us the theory of
relativity, and Henry Ford made it possible
for the average working person to own an
automobile. I’d like to take this moment
together to appreciate the swimming pool
noodle.
Visit your local outdoor store, toy outlet,
or “NowhereNearaDollar” store, and you’ll
find bushels of these human-height, brightly
colored, Ethafoam tubes that are sold as
water-jousting implements. (Kids, please
don’t take that as a suggested practice.)
Sometimes these candy-colored items
can even be had for $1 or less; we modelers
can be resourceful when it comes to finding
bargains. The impact-protective
spaghettilike child’s toy is practically five
times as expensive if purchased from a
manufacturer that makes it into packing
material that you and I throw away with the
box containing a new home computer.
However, the pool noodle is far more
useful to the aeromodeler. Thanks to its soft,
round shape, there’s hardly an edge to harm
a point it may contact. That alone makes the
miracle material perfect for wrapping the
sharp ends of a propeller blade or for being
carved into the travelwise wheel chock.
On the workbench, sections of the
oversized neon-colored foam drinking straw
can easily be sliced off for use as a method
of preventing CA containers from tipping or
holding bottles of epoxy inverted so that
they’re always ready to pour without having
to wait a day and a half for the 1/4-inch
puddle inside to make its way out of the
spout.
In my car, I always have foam padding
at an arm’s reach. These wispy, lighter-thanair
makeshift pillows are good for keeping
an airplane wingtip from scraping the paint
off of a helicopter canopy.
They can also be used in lieu of water
balloons to get the attention of a 12-year-old
middle-school student who is texting the
pretty redhead he met in social studies class,
whom he hated until the second the news of
note passing broke on a friend’s Facebook
page. I think Twitter recently posted that it’s
probably wise to wait until your kids are at
least 31 to allow them to have cell phones.
The other thing pool noodles are good
for, and the real reason for their invention if
6 MODEL AVIATION
Editor Michael Ramsey
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“Find your own way” ...
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you ask me, is to be used as sheaths for
PVC pipe that stands vertical on the
racecourse of a Club 40 Pylon contest. Their
colors regarded as stomach churning,
avoiding them not only becomes habit, but
is also a health vitality stimulant.
If you look at Don Stegall’s article
“Pylon Racing for Everyone,” one of the
photos shows that alternating sections make
the pylons even more avoidable and that
much easier to recognize when it’s time to
turn around.
In addition, if one of the suggested RC
models is introduced to said benchmark,
damage to each would be minimized. Okay,
I’d laugh if it were my airplane.
“Find your own way” is what I always
say. Racing in any form is a thrill, even if
the seriousness of the venture is pressed
only for a weekend. We’re all serious about
having fun, right?
Take Eric Henderson’s article about
aerotowing. Thousands of dollars didn’t go
toward the know-how to experience the
excitement of a cool tow model and the
grace of a glider. Because the two were
looked at with an open mind, a successful
venture was created that didn’t take a
second mortgage on the family farm.
As modelers, we find a way to make
something from nothing. Laddie Mikulasko
constructed planks and sticks of balsa into a
beautiful 1/4-scale model of the Jodel D-9
Bebe. His version can be powered with
either glow or electric power; it’s your
choice.
And John Hunton’s look at dealing with
torque on Scale models was new to me. His
solution didn’t cost much more than two
bits. MA
10sig1.QXD 8/24/09 9:30 AM Page 6
Edition: Model Aviation - 2009/10
Page Numbers: 6